The following article provides an overview of Metadata in Course Evaluations & Surveys and how to use it to unlock new ways of exploring evaluation data.
Introduction to Metadata
- Metadata is data that helps describe other data.
- In Course Evaluations & Surveys, metadata can be thought of as tags, or useful descriptors related to courses, students or respondents, or instructors.
- Metadata is a way to attach characteristics (I.e. A tag about a respondent, instructor, or course), which can then be used in the Course Evaluations & Surveys reporting features to filter results on characteristics outside of the evaluation.
- The following are all ways to think about the function metadata can serve: Tags, characteristics, segmentation data, data describing data, keywords.
Example Scenario
- An CES Administrator adds metadata to user profiles indicating the year in school of a University student (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior).
- Then, using the Report Builder 2.0 metadata filter function, they create a report which only includes respondent data from Juniors.
How to Add Metadata to Users
IMPORTANT: Column headers "MDU_FirstName" "MDU_LastName" or "MDU_UserName" should not be uploaded with user metadata as these headers conflict with our system and will negatively affect some reporting features.
In Course Evaluations & Surveys, metadata can be added to user profiles via the following methods:
- Manually
- User Metadata Upload File
- API
- FTP
Manually
In Course Evaluations & Surveys:
- Access the respective project.
- Click on the Users tab.
- Click on the pencil icon of the desired user, located at the end of the row, to enter edit mode.
- Click on Optional Metadata to expand.
- Click on Add Optional Metadata.
NOTE
- Name corresponds to the category of metadata (I.e. Year in School).
- Value corresponds to the desired metadata (I.e. Junior).
User Upload File
In Course Evaluations & Surveys:
- Access the respective project.
- Click on the Users tab.
- Click on Data Import > Excel, to access the Upload Excel File page.
- Select User File Type: Select User Metadata File.
- Click on Choose File and select the appropriate Excel file.
- Click on Upload.
User Upload File Format: Column Headers
- Username
- MDU_(metadata name / category): I.e. MDU_Accommodation
NOTE
- The metadata column header name / category must contain the MDU_ prefix.
- Only one metadata value can be used for each metadata category per user.
Example username and metadata name/category values:
Overview: Metadata and Metadata Survey Connection to Report Builder 2.0
Workflow
- Add Metadata to Course or User.
- Metadata attached to Course or User matches values entered in Metadata Survey.
- Metadata Survey creates Metadata Filters for Report Builder 2.0.
Illustration: Relationship of Metadata Survey to Metadata Upload
Illustration: Relationship of Metadata Survey to Report Builder 2.0
